A prior art mobile blower unit for leaves and other debris is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,826 to Kaeser, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Kaeser discloses an internal combustion engine mounted on a frame supported by a set of wheels with a shaft connected to the engine to drive a blower impeller. The blower housing is mounted so as to be capable of rotating on an axis of the engine shaft. The blower housing has a center inlet, a laterally projecting tangential outlet, and a movable air deflector mounted on the housing adjacent the outlet. The air deflector is actuated by an elongated control rod which extends from the handle assembly projecting rearwardly and upwardly from the frame, and a control rod permits the operator to actuate the air deflector when the blower outlet and deflector are located at either a high position on one side of the frame or a low position on the opposite side of the frame. In the Kaeser device, the mobile blower unit is provided with a formed tubular steel leg member which extends across the front of the screen of the centrifugal blower unit and has rearward end portions rigidly secured to the engine support frame. By this arrangement, when the Kaeser mobile blower unit is tilted forwardly, the support leg member engages the ground or other supporting surface.
Another form of mobile blower unit is of the type wherein the blower unit is carried on a frame which is supported on the back of the user, and the blower unit is connected to an elongated blower tube which is guided by the worker in order to remove grass and debris from generally inaccessible places, such as under hedges or in flower beds. Examples of leaf blower units which are mounted on a frame that is carried by the user are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,729 to Miyamoto, U.S. Pat. No. 7,300,484 to Scully et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 7,185,393 to Dahlberg et al.
Although the Kaeser mobile blower unit has operated satisfactorily and is an improvement over prior existing mobile blower units, the Kaeser mobile blower unit is difficult to operate in flower beds and beneath shrubs and the like in order to remove leaves thereunder. Similarly, although the mobile blower units that are carried on a frame on the back of the user operate satisfactorily for their intended purpose, they cause a strain on the user, and have limited blower capability whereby they are primarily used to remove leaves from under shrubs, and are inefficient when it comes to blowing leaves in a long driveway or across a large lawn.
Accordingly, there is a need for a ground leaf blower unit which is capable of clearing large grass areas and driveways, while at the same time having the capability of blowing leaves from confined locations under shrubs and the like. Such a blower should ideally be simple in construction, low cost to manufacture, of sturdy construction and smooth operation, and wheel mounted so that the user does not carry a heavy blower unit during a cleaning operation. These and other objects of the subject invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.